This chapter is from the book

Editing: Beyond the Basics

As mentioned previously, the basic editing techniques were discussed in Chapter 1. In this section, you'll learn to search for and replace text, use Office's AutoText feature to automatically enter text for you, and use smart buttons to speed common editing and formatting tasks.

Finding and replacing text

You can instruct Word to search for and optionally replace words or phrases. For example, if you can't remember the page on which you referred to Apple's annual report, you could perform a Find on the phrase "annual report." Or suppose your company has recently changed its name from Bob's Plumbing to Widgets Inc. Using the Replace command, you can replace every instance of the old name with the new one. Refer to Table 3.3 (on the next page) for a list of special Find options.

Table 3.3. Special Find Options

Option

Description

Match case

Finds words that contain the same combination of upper- and lowercase characters

Word searches for the string, starting from the current insertion point. If it finds the string, it is automatically highlighted in the document (Figure 3.11).

Figure 3.11 When a Find or Find and Replace search locates a match, Word scrolls as necessary to highlight the found text.

To find and highlight all instances of the search string, click the check box to Highlight all items found in, choose an option from the drop-down menu (such as Main Document or Current Selection), and click Find All.

Do one of the following:

To search for the next occurrence of the text string (when searching for individual occurrences), click Find Next. Repeat as necessary to find additional matches.

In the Replace with text box, type the replacement string and click Find Next.

Word searches for the text. If it finds an instance of the string, that instance is highlighted in the document.

Click Replace to replace the text or Find Next to search for the next occurrence of the search string.

Repeat this step until you're done or until Word notifies you that it has finished searching the document.

TIPs

When performing a Replace, you can click Replace All to simultaneously replace all occurrences of the search string.

When performing a new Find, you can repeat a search by clicking the arrow to the right of the Find what text box. Search terms you've previously used appear in this drop-down list.

Click the triangle in the bottom-left corner of the dialog box to display additional search options (Figure 3.13). For instance, Finds are normally case insensitive. If you want to find terms that match a specific capitalization, click the Match case check box. To hide the additional search options, click the triangle again.

Figure 3.13 Click the triangle to expand the Find and Replace dialog box to show advanced search options.

You can also base a search on a particular font, effect, or style by choosing options from the Format drop-down menu. For example, you could replace all instances of Arial Italic text with Helvetica Italic (Figure 3.14).

Figure 3.14 By including only format options in the Find what and Replace with boxes, you can replace one font with another throughout a document.

To specify a search direction (down, up, or all) or to search all open documents (rather than just the active one), choose an option from the drop-down menu at the top of the expanded search options.

To include a special character such as a tab or paragraph mark in a search, open the Special menu and choose a character (Figure 3.15). The symbol for the chosen character is automatically added to the search string. (In this example, ^t is inserted to represent a tab character.)

Figure 3.15 To include a special character in a Find or Replace string, choose it from this menu.

Automatically entering text

The AutoText feature is designed to save you from repetitively typing text. AutoText enables you to quickly insert any amount of text into a document—from one word to multiple paragraphs.

To create an AutoText entry

In the active document, select the text from which you want to create an AutoText entry (Figure 3.16).

The Create AutoText dialog box appears and suggests a name (Figure 3.17).

Figure 3.17 The Create AutoText dialog appears and suggests a name for the new entry. Edit it as desired.

Optional:
Replace the suggested name with one of your own.

If you want to be able to insert the entry using AutoComplete, make sure that the name contains at least four characters.

Click OK to add the text to the list of available AutoText entries.

To insert an AutoText entry

As you type, Word watches for the name of an AutoText entry. When it detects one, a yellow box containing the AutoText entry's name appears (Figure 3.18).

Figure 3.18 Whenever you type four characters that Word recognizes as a possible AutoText entry, you are offered the opportunity to insert it in the document.

Do one of the following:

To accept the AutoText replacement, press or .

To ignore the proposed AutoText replacement, continue typing.

TIPs

You can use AutoText to enter lengthy medical, legal, or technical terms. AutoText is also great for writing letters that have the same opening and closing lines.

You can also include graphics, such as a logo, in an AutoText entry.

To save a formatted paragraph as an AutoText entry, be sure to include the paragraph mark at the end of the paragraph in your selection. Otherwise, the entry will be inserted as plain text. (To view paragraph marks, click the Show/Hide ¶ icon in the Standard toolbar.)

Figure 3.19 You can delete AutoText entries, as well as specify the classes of entries to use, in the AutoCorrect dialog box.

You can also make an AutoText insertion by choosing Insert > AutoText > AutoText, selecting the entry from the list in the AutoCorrect dialog box (see Figure 3.19), and clicking Insert.

Another way to make an AutoText entry is by choosing it from one of the Insert > AutoText submenus (Figure 3.20). Word provides dozens of common AutoText entries to get you started. You'll find your personal entries in the template in which they were stored; typically, this is the Normal template.

Figure 3.20 You can also insert an AutoText entry by choosing it from an Insert > AutoText submenu.

By default, the names of your Entourage contacts are also available as AutoText entries. To exclude them, choose Insert > AutoText > AutoText, and check the Exclude contacts check box in the AutoCorrect dialog box (see Figure 3.19).

Working with smart buttons

To make certain edits more flexible, Word and Excel provide smart buttons. A smart button is a pop-up icon that—when clicked—displays a menu of options. There are two types of smart buttons: AutoCorrect Options and Paste Options.

Figure 3.21 The AutoCorrect tab of the AutoCorrect dialog box contains the list of items that will automatically be corrected in your documents.

Paste Option buttons are immediately available after pasting or using drag and drop. You can specify that the pasted or dropped text keep its original formatting or that it adopt the formatting of surrounding text.

To use an AutoCorrect Options button

After an autocorrection, move the cursor over the corrected text.

A blue underline appears under the text.

Move the cursor over the blue underline to reveal the AutoCorrect button. Click the button to open the drop-down menu (Figure 3.22).

Figure 3.22 When the button appears, click it to open the drop-down menu.

Do one of the following:

Choose Undo or Change back to restore the original, uncorrected text.

Choose Stop automatically correcting condition to prevent future instances from being corrected and to delete the item from the Replace list.

To use a Paste Options button

Figure 3.23 A Paste Options button allows you to control the formatting of pasted text.

Click the button to reveal the drop-down menu.

Do one of the following:

Choose Keep Source Formatting to keep the original formatting for the pasted or dropped text.

Choose Match Destination Formatting to change the text formatting of the pasted or dragged text to match that of the surrounding text and paragraph.

Choose Keep Text Only to strip all previously applied formatting from the pasted or dropped text. (For instance, text that was colored red and italicized would be reduced to plain, black text.)

TIPs

There is no time limit for clicking an AutoCorrect Options button. As long as you haven't closed and reopened the document, an AutoCorrect Options button will be available for every autocorrection made during the current session.

On the other hand, a Paste Options button must be used immediately. You must take advantage of it while it's visible.

For some users, Paste Options buttons are a distraction or nuisance. To prevent them from constantly popping up, choose Word > Preferences. In the Edit section of the Preferences dialog box (Figure 3.24), remove the checkmark from Show Paste Options buttons.

Figure 3.24 You can enable or disable Paste Options buttons in the Preferences dialog box.

After undoing an autocorrection, you can later "redo" the correction by clicking the button and choosing Redo AutoCorrect.